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The green baize artist comes across as an all-round nice bloke as he amicably and candidly reveals his struggles with mental health, addiction and M&s scones

It’s the final of the 2022 World Snooker Championships, and a TV pundit is showering compliments on Ronnie O’Sullivan, who’s back in his stride after losing a couple of frames to Judd Trump. “He just looks so relaxed, so cool,” marvels the pundit. Behind the scenes, we’ve just watched O’Sullivan nervy, on the edge of a meltdown, and venting at his psychiatrist, Prof Steve Peters. “Fuck me, I feel bashed up Steve,” he says. It’s one of the biggest games of O’Sullivan’s career; if he wins, he’ll have seven world crowns – equalling Stephen Hendry’s modern-era record. At 46, who knows how many finals he’s got left in him? As history records, O’Sullivan did get past Trump,...

Kim Kardashian drives a London bus, Idris Elba tends his brassicas and teen mum Greta Thunberg pushes her baby in a pram around the streets of Southend. No, it’s not a fever dream – it’s ITV’s new sketch comedy, Deep Fake Neighbour Wars, which premieres on Thursday (26 January).

A first of its kind, the show uses controversial deep fake technology, better known for making fake news and revenge porn, to put celebrities’ faces onto actors’ bodies as they navigate everyday conflicts with their neighbours.

In the first episode, Elba and Kardashian argue over access to their shared garden in Catford. Meanwhile, in Southend-on-Sea, newly arrived single mother Greta Thunberg complains to the council about the outrageous Christmas decorations left up all year by her neighbours (who just happen to be “florist” Conor McGregor and “scaffolder” Ariana Grande).

Reactions from those who’ve had a peek have been mixed to say the least,...

ITV darlings Ant and Dec have extended their contract with the broadcaster for another three years, in a deal thought to be worth upwards of £30m.

The new deal takes Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly up to 25 years exclusively with ITV.

In 2023, they will present shows from Ant & Dec’s Limitless Win and Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway to Britain’s Got Talent and I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

For the first time, there is also an All-Stars version of I’m a Celebrity on the way.

The Newcastle presenters, each of whom have an estimated net worth of £62m, started out as actors in the Cbbc kids series Byker Grove in the 1980s.

Off the back of that show, the duo briefly performed together as pop musicians Pj and Duncan, the names of their characters from the series.

Across their careers, they have won 43 National...

Stephen Hendry said he was fined by snooker bosses after pulling out of events due to his appearance on The Masked Singer.

The seven-time world champion, 54, was revealed as the character Rubbish on the ITV celebrity singing show on Saturday.

Asked by the Pa news agency what he told people he was doing while keeping his identity a secret, the former world number one said: “I do have wildcards to play in some snooker events and I actually pulled out of a couple of events and got fined by the Wpbsa (World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association) for doing it.

“And I couldn’t tell them why because this recording was going on and I couldn’t obviously say why I pulled out… I just said ‘Look, I can’t play the tournament’.

“So, yeah, it was, very, very, very strange… you’re dying to tell people what you’re doing but you can’t.

The Masked Singer has revealed its latest mystery as snooker star Stephen Hendry was unveiled as Rubbish.

In Saturday’s (21 January) festival-themed episode, Rubbish performed alongside Fawn, Jacket Potato, Rhino and Pigeon.

After his performance of “Ruby” by Kaiser Chiefs, Rubbish landed in the bottom two and was ultimately sent home by the judging panel.

Guesses ranged from athletes Max Whitlock and Sir Chris Hoy to presenters Paddy McGuinness and Jay Blades.

However, no-one managed to detect that it was Stephen Hendry in the colourful costume.

One of the clues hinted at him being celebrated for his youth – fitting, as Hendry became a professional snooker player at age 16 in 1985.

In 1994, Hendry was awarded an MBE, while he and Ronnie O’Sullivan share the record for the most World Snooker Championship titles, with seven.

On taking part in the competition, Hendry explained that his primary goal was to try something out of his comfort zone.

“Now and again I like an easy job – and this is an easy job.” That was sports entrepreneur and general all-round business genius Barry Hearn talking in 2010 after being appointed chairman of the World Snooker Association (Wsa). Many thought he’d gone bonkers to take the job on at the time – even his close friend and former protege Steve Davis expressed his doubts live on the BBC – such was the slump in popularity the game had experienced. Fast forward to the present, and how is the “job” – to restore snooker back to something like its former glory – going? With another world championship at the Crucible Theatre looming, let’s take a look.

When Hearn took over, the game was still very much in the doldrums. Attendances were poor, save for the real prestige tournaments on the calendar, prize money had dried up somewhat and general interest levels were a shadow...

A friend and I once came up with something called “The 98% rule”, which states that 98% of things – especially people – aren’t worth bothering about. Instead, you should celebrate and cherish the 2% you find worthwhile. So whilst the majority of television these days is made up of a tired mish-mash of soaps, panel shows, reality shows and programmes about professionals, amateurs, celebrities or children that can cook, that when something different comes along, it’s worth celebrating the 2% originality.

Step forward Charlie Brooker, whose wonderfully warped Black Mirror series returns for a three episode run this week. Brooker’s been gathering momentum for well over a decade now, and has remained one of the most original and entertaining writers, commentators and presenters in the UK. Here’s my list of his 10 finest moments…

10. TVGoHome

The Brooker entry point (that already sounds like a late night drama series) for me was this...

Snooker superstar Stephen Hendry has retired from the sport he once dominated following his latest defeat.

Once considered the greatest snooker player ever, Hendry announced he would be walking away from competitive play on Tuesday after losing his appetite for the game.

The decision came following his world championship defeat at the hands of Stephen Maguire on Monday.

He tells the The Telegraph newspaper, "It was quite an easy decision... I want to do other things. I’ve got a lot of commitments now in China, which I’ve signed up for and I can’t do that and play snooker because I would never be at home."

The 43 year old became the world's number one player at 21 and remained at the top of the leader board for a decade.